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Australian steamer Adele
Australia (1907–15) Royal Australian Navy (1915–22) Territory of New Guinea (1922–29) Port Adelaide (1929–39) Royal Australian Navy (1939–43) |Ship builder=Hawthorn & Co Leith, Scotland, United Kingdom |Ship yard number=116 |Ship launched=18 October 1906 |Ship completed=November 1906 |Ship identification=UK Official Number 123022 Code Letters HJRW |Ship fate=Wrecked 7 May 1943 }} |module2= |Ship displacement= |Ship length= |Ship beam= |Ship draught= |Ship sail plan=Yacht |Ship propulsion=1 x triple expansion steam engine (Hawthorns & Co Ltd, Leith) |Ship speed= |Ship armament=2 x •303-in Vickers machine guns (HMAS Adele) }} }} Adele was a steel screw steamer that was built in 1906 as a yacht. She was twice commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), firstly as HMAS ''Franklin'' and later as HMAS ''Adele. She was wrecked at Port Kembla, New South Wales on 7 May 1943. Design and construction ''Adele was built in 1906 by Hawthorns & Co Ltd, Leith, Scotland as yard number 116. She was launched on 18 October 1906 and completed in November 1906. Originally built as a yacht, she was later converted to steam power. Propulsion By 1930, Adele was powered by a triple expansion steam engine with cylinders of , and bore by stroke. The engine was manufactured by Hawthorns & Co Ltd. Adele was capable of . Official Number and Code Letters Official numbers were a forerunner to IMO Numbers. In 1930, Adele had the UK Official Number 123022 and used the Code Letters HJRW. Operational history In 1915, Adele was purchased by the Australia Government for £21,500 from the estate of Henry Dutton of Kapunda, South Australia. On 14 September 1915 she was commissioned into the RAN as HMAS Franklin. HMAS Franklin served as a tender to the Royal Australian Naval College. She was paid off on 31 March 1921 only to be recommissioned on 21 September. Franklin was decommissioned on 18 September 1922 and gifted to the Administrator of Papua-New Guinea, serving there until 1929. By 1930, she had reverted to the name Adele and was owned by the Commonwealth Government of Australia and operated by the Department of Home & Territories. At the time she was homeported at Port Adelaide under the British Flag. In 1932, Adele was laid up at Rabaul. She was sold for £1,652 on 7 December of that year to W L Buckland of Melbourne, Australia who refitted her as a private yacht and used her for cruising. Adele was later sold to C H Relph of Sydney and was laid up for some years at Rose Bay Port Jackson, Sydney. On 24 October 1939, Adele was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Adele. She was armed with two •303-in Vickers machine guns and employed as an examination vessel. From December 1941, HMAS Adele was attached to . Loss On 7 May 1943, Adele struck the breakwater at Port Kembla and was subsequently declared a total loss. The wreck of Adele is protected under the New South Wales Heritage Act, 1977. Legacy Franklin is remembered in the naming of two other sail training yachts associated with the RAN College: * a yacht in the 1960s and 1970s, which took part in several Sydney to Hobart races; * a Hunter yacht acquired in 2005.New fleet addition, RAN "Navy News" paper, edition V48, No22, 2005-12-01, accessed 2009-10-18 References Category:Shipwrecks of the Illawarra Region Category:Merchant ships of Australia Category:Iron and steel steamships of Australia Category:Auxiliary ships of the Royal Australian Navy Category:1906 ships Category:Maritime incidents in 1943 Category:1901 – World War I ships of Australia Category:Between the World wars ships of Australia Category:Ships built in Scotland Category:Individual yachts